Ben's Bargains

Ben's Bargains is a consumer bargain shopping website that aggregates current special offers, discounts, and deals on a variety of products. The site primarily focuses on electronics and is known for its "product tracker" features for popular technology products.

History

Ben's Bargains was launched in January 2000 by Benjamin Chiu, a 20-year-old college student in San Francisco, California. The site was launched to provide consumers with a centralized place to find deals and discounts on a variety of popular products and to save consumers time by eliminating the need to individually visit several retailers' websites when cross-shopping products online.

The site quickly developed a loyal following, and Ben's Bargains had revenues of $20,000 per month by 2004. Ben's Bargains was acquired by Internet Brands in 2008, joining other shopping sites that the company owns, such as The Bargainist.

Site Usage

Ben's Bargains primarily consists of a regularly updated list of current available special deals, rebates, and online coupons on a variety of products from hundreds of merchants, including Dell, Office Depot, Sony, and Wal-Mart. The site is updated several times each day and primarily focuses on special offers on electronics such as televisions, digital cameras, and computer equipment. Despite the technology focus, the site also occasionally lists special offers on other products including apparel, financial services, and toys.

The site has become known for its "product tracker" feature for extremely in-demand, hard-to-find products that sell out quickly. The product trackers follow the inventory of several major retailers, and post when the items are available. For example, when the Nintendo Wii was launched in 2007 and was difficult to find in stores due to high demand, Ben's Bargains created a Wii product tracker that listed which, if any, merchants currently had Wiis in STOCK at any given time.

Ben's Bargains features an ACTIVE user discussion forum with more than 104,000 registered users, according to the site's home page. The site also offers mobile editions and widgets for site access on mobile devices.

Recognitions and Awards

• MSN Money named Ben's Bargains one of the "100 most useful websites" in 2009.

See also

• Internet Brands